Short ESL Article 39

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice, by far the most popular of all Jane
Austen's novels, requires no detailed description. Jane
Austen said of it that it "is rather too light, and bright, and
sparkling; it wants shade," and this is perhaps the
reason for its popularity. The precision and vivacity of
style carry the reader through the novel with ease and
spirit; there is a sparkling life about the characters and
rainwashed freshness about the scenery which combine
to make this gayest of Jane Austen's novels, in spite of
deeper overtones which emerge when Charlotte Lucas
agrees to marry Mr. Collins or when Lydia is discovered
to have run off with Wickham with no prospect of
marriage. The speed and ski ii with which the author
moves into the story is remarkable.

A) doesn't need elaborate explanation
B) is the most famous novel in English literature
C) doesn't require shade to be understood by the readers
D) is popular due to its vivacity of style
E) doesn't want popularity by the readers

2. It's implied in the passage that ----.

A) there is no promising life about the characters in the novel
B) Lydia and Wickham become happy after they have married
C) Charlotte Lucas had an unhappy life with Mr. Collin's
D) Jane Austen doesn't comment on her own book
E) the landscape of the novel adds lively atmosphere into it

3. Author Jane Austen confessed ----.

A) that she didn't write the novel on her own
B) the reasons why Pride and Prejudice is so popular
C) the ugliness of her novel
D) her own skill and ability to affect public
E) same solutions about Lydia's marriage